I am considering a Cherokee 180. I hear the glide ratio is terrible but I can't find any stats on it. I have a lot of time in the later cantilever wing Pipers but very little in the early Cherokees.

So anyone know the difference between say the Cherokee 180 vs the Archer, Cherokee 140 vs the Warrior? What about the overall performance like climb and cruise?

Here's a POH for the 180 Cherokee
http://coyoteflight.com/resources/Aircr ... 8-180E.pdf

My experience with a PA-28-181 Archer was quite positive. Easy to maintain, would carry 2 adults and lots of luggage, or 2 adults + 2 kids, or 4 adults if they're skinny.

Cruise 120 knots, burn 10GPH, absolutely conventional flight characteristics with no bad habits. I would expect that's true for the other wing as well. I can't believe there's anything abnormal about the glide characteristics, and it lands slow enough to reduce the danger in a forced landing. (Do get shoulder harnesses...)

I got a Bonanza because I was taking longer trips and got tired of seeing 85 and 90 knots groundspeed when the wind picks up.

I flew the 150 and 160hp Warriors a little - they were fine but slow for 2 people, but really suffered in climb on a hot day with 3 adults or anything heavy to carry. I thought the 180hp was a big-deal upgrade for anything beyond flight training.

All the straight wing pipers glide the same, the taper wing (models ending in a 1 pa28-161,181, ect.) tend to glide a little better. My 160HP cherokee 140 cruises at 111kts consistently. But realistically glide in a piper is the equivalent of chucking a brick out the window and following it down

I have flown all of these airplanes at one point or another. I currently fly a PA-28R-200 Arrow (straight wing) and a PA-28-161 Warrior.

I can say this: The short wing airplanes seem to be slightly faster. When you reduce throttle, the short wing airplanes tend to develop higher sink rates.

The longer wing airplanes seem to cruise a few knots slower; but climb is better.

Handling is excellent on all of these Piper singles. They are real %#$@# cats. As long as there are no corrosion issues, I think the older Pipers are a very good purchase. They offer good utility at a lower price point.

Off the top of my head I seem to remember it being roughly 9:1

Yeah something like 9:1 sounds right. Cherokee 180 is an awesome plane

I had a Piper Dakota for a bit. Great plane. Had a little pilot comm window. When I asked my instructor how to estimate gliding distance he recommended throwing my car keys out the comm window and following them down.....

Find a 1973 Cherokee Challenger, Slightly longer span hershey bar wing and tail than the normal Cherokee 180 and the Arrow cabin length. Fits in the hangar easier than an Archer.

This one is sold but there are photos of the differences. It’s a nice compromise between the higher priced Archer and a normal 180 if you can find one.

http://indyairsales.com/1973-piper-cher ... er-n8515n/

According to my Warrior III POH, the glide ratio is 11.3:1 at max gross. We see an average of 105 KTAS at 65% power in cruise. Climb is... anemic, especially at gross in the summer. Unless we need the 5hrs of endurance for a XC, the tanks are just filled to tabs (34 gallons total) in the summer.

I can't find anything for the Cherokee 180, but based on data for other short-wing PA28 models, I agree that it's about 9:1, maybe a little less.
For example, the Arrow II, with its short wing (32.2 ft) and heavy weight (2,650lbs), has a glide ratio of 8.25:1 at MGW and the gear up. On the other end of the short-wing spectrum, the Cherokee 140 (30.0ft wingspan) has a glide ratio of 10.3:1 at MGW (2150lbs).
I'd guess that a ratio of 9:1 is pretty close for a Cherokee 180.

The Archer III has a glide ratio of 11.4:1 at 200lbs below MTOW. It has a gross weight 100lbs greater than the Warrior III, so the glide ratio is probably in the 10.9-11.2:1 range.

Will

Or maybe less.

At one time I instructed in an old Cherokee 180. Chop the power abeam the numbers on downwind and if my student didn't immediately start a turn to the runway we had to add power or land very short.

Always seemed to me that the hershey-bar Cherokees of all types had a glide ratio between a greased anvil and a chrome plated manhole cover.

Best,
Rich

Weight does not affect glide ratio, just affects best glide speed Vg.

180 Cherokees are good little planes. I have flown me plus 3 adult men out of ABQ several times in a 180 with partial fuel. Don't worry about the glide ratio, it's not a C172, but not an anvil either. For that try chopping the power in an Arrow and having the automatic gear extension drop the gear. Rockwell 112 is also bad.

The 140 Cherokees suck in summer though. 150hp is a tad better, and I don't recall flying the 160hp models. I flew a Mom, Dad and teenage son home from OKC in July, and that little 140 had an absolute ceiling of 3500' MSL that day. I know, I tried. Density altitude just kills them. The later Archer/Warriors were much better wings when hot/high. I've flown a Warrior in/out the OLD Ruidoso airport in the canyon no problem.

The OLD airport?? Wow must have been early on a cool day.
I went in and out of old Ruidoso way back then...but NEVER EVER in an old Cherokee or hot afternoon.

Just a 60-ish deg day. Two people, no bags. It was an almost new Warrior though. That wasn't any harder than getting a ragged out Cherokee 140 or 172 out of 2200' grass on a Texas summer afternoon.